Thursday, January 9, 2014

"To listen is to be willing to be changed or persuaded by what we hear"

Only when the other person perceives that they are honestly being listened to will they really hear what we are saying. When we feel we are not listened to we build resistance to the other persons thoughts.

We are all guilty of waiting for the other person to finish so that we can have our say. While they are talking most of us are busy not listening and instead forming our next thoughts. The easy solution is....

The 50% Rule

Make sure the other person gets to speak at least 50% of the time. Simple! And if you let the other person speak 70 to 80% of the time guess what happens....

* You start to build rapport

* They like you more

* They think you are smarter

* The feel appreciated

* Their resistance to you and your ideas drops

* They will really listen to you

Isn`t that beautiful and all you have to do is stop talking!

Listen to learn

It is easier to persuade if you know where the other person is coming from. Ask questions, ask lots of questions. This gets you the information you need to persuade. The guy that talks the most usually walks away feeling satisified and comfortable. Whose comfort is more important to you.

The first objective of persuasion is to find ways to lower their resistance to you and your ideas and requests. This is the easiest path to preparing someone to be persuaded.

Monday, January 6, 2014

"It is a basic desire of all humans to feel appreciated and yet some give out appreciation as if it were coming straight out of their bank account"

1. It makes you more likeable. It's easy and natural to like anyone who appreciates who we are and what we did.

2. Thank You Card...is a great marketing tool. What is the purpose of marketing tools? To make your client feel positive about you and your company? A hand written thank you can do that and it costs pennies.

3. It's the classy thing to do. We are busy and so is our competition. It's easy to take our employees, clients and peers for granted. That's what most do...except of course the classy people. They say thanks sincerely and often. Want to stand out from the mob...say thank you!

4. Others notice. Those lucky enough to get great thank you cards often show them off to others. You create great impressions of yourself by being showing gratitude.

5. Thank you cards have a lasting effect. I recently saw a thank you card I gave to a friend on his fridge a full year after I originally gave it to him. A verbal thank you would have been long forgotten.

6. Big advantage for small business. Big businesses might send out those generic thank you cardsbut they rarely hand write a message! And an ounce of personalization is worth a pound of professionalism.

7. Prepare to persuade. So you want to make the big sale? Research says for most major sales you may have to make 6-7 contacts before you can expect a successful outcome. To do that you need to leave each contact with your client with a good feeling about you. Thank them for their time so they will be receptive to another visit.

Who to give thank you cards to?

* clients

* employees

* vendors

* friends and family

* peers

* new contacts

* anyone who does you a kindness

What to thank them for?

* the businesss

* their time

* friendship or loyalty

* a referral

* a compliment or testimonial

* their work (quality, efficiency and effort)

Make it special?

* hand write a message inside because it makes it more personal

* if your hand writing is not good...print but make it neat or it diminishes the effect

* make the message personal not generic

* take care in picking out your card and don't cheap out (that shows)

* humor goes a long way to warming up the recipient but isn't always necessary and sometimes is not appropriate...you decide.

Pssst....thank you for taking the time to read this, it is much appreciated!

Follow my Facebook Fun

About Me

My second book....'Secrets of Master Persuaders' will be coming out this year!
Here's why I know this book is so damn important..
"If you can't persuade others to buy into your ideas then they won't matter much.
And if you can't persuade others to believe in you then you won't matter much"
GOOD NEWS.....this book will show you how to become a 'master of persuasion'.
And you will be amazed at how easy and fun it is.